A teaching development study on engaged learning in translation and audio description

This paper reports the outcomes of a teaching development study on engaged learning in translation and audio description by university students. Audio description (AD) is an instance of an accessible AVT method making audio-visual texts accessible to visually impaired people (Braum, 2008). Engaged learning aims to develop students' purposeful and reflective learning through classroom and outside-classroom experiences (Schlecty,1994). Under the engaged learning approach, students involved in this study started by joining translation classes and participating in AD workshops. Then they were engaged in applying the acquired knowledge and skills to social services and knowledge transfer in exhibitions at a museum and on campus. In translation classes, students learnt to translate texts on art exhibits from Chinese into English and translate audio recordings on cultural heritage from Cantonese to written Chinese and English. In AD workshops, students were trained by an AD specialist to equip them with the knowledge and skills to prepare AD scripts for art exhibits. In an art exhibition on cultural heritage at a museum, students were allowed to use the completed AD scripts to serve visually impaired people invited to the exhibition. In the teaching development project exhibition on campus, they transferred their knowledge of audio description and art translation to university and secondary school students. Finally, students reflected on their learning experience in all contexts. The study's outcomes demonstrate students' success in professional translation by transferring knowledge and skills to social services, building their career paths as professional translators.